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OK, OP, I'm a grill and I had a similar problem: no offense, but 9/10 of the young men I knew turned me off. I wanted someone with a brain and a sense of responsibility and I completely gave up and expected to be alone forever, and I felt good about it. It is absolutely unequivocally better to be alone than to be with someone who makes you unhappy just to be WITH someone.
Even so, when I was 20 I became friends with a guy who was 42 at the time. We were just friends, coworkers, but it gradually became apparent that we had a lot in common when it came to values and aspirations in life. I fell in love with him but was too shy to let him know. We were strictly friends for 4 years before I told him how I really felt.
Today I'm 29 and he's 51 and are on our way to being together for the rest of our lives. A 22 year age gap is something to be reckoned with in some ways, but I forget it's even a thing because it is so rewarding to be in a mutually loving relationship with someone I gel with on a physical, spiritual, value, and intellectual level.
By the way, before he met me, he had never ever had a girlfriend either. I thought I had it bad having to wait until I was 24 to get my first romantic kiss, he was 46. And it was wonderful.
My advice is: get to a point where you're OK with being alone. It's not healthy to go into a relationship expecting the other person to complete you. It's not healthy for either of you. When you get there, remain open and don't assume that at 21 you're hopeless. BF was 46 and he assumed he'd die alone, made peace with it, and ended up surprised. You will, too.
